if anyone has time to help

[Maverick]

hey guys

we are discussing realism in our english class and got this huge take home test. i just have a quick ?

the stories i had to read were

the open boat
the story of an hour
the occurance at owl bridge
the outcasts of poker flat

all these stories are in third person omniscient but i dont understand why that is important to realist writing. if anyone has a clue talk to me! thanks

[mono]

I apologize, but, out of all of your readings, I have only read An Occurence At Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce.
Bierce wrote this short story in third-person omniscient for a very good reason - for the story to proceed as mysteriously as possible until the end. Though written in third-person, the whole tale follows the consciousness of the main character, being hanged over the Owl Creek; the falsely-convicted character, before the noose takes his last breath, quickly dreams through a fantasy of escaping, and, soon enough, the popular phenomenon occurs that his life "flashed before his eyes."
This seems very unique for a third-person piece. In essence, it does not seem omniscient according to the story's plot, but it does when thinking of the main character's flight of ideas; furthermore, the not-so-omniscient reader knows not what has happened until the conclusion, when the main character hangs, dead, over the Owl Creek - very characteristic of Ambrose Bierce's short stories.
Good luck! I apologize I have not read any of the others.

[the devil's own]

If someone wishes to read them, I found three of the four:

The Outcasts of Poker Flat (http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Bret_Harte/The_Outcasts_Of_Poker_Flat/The_Outcasts_Of_Poker_Flat_p1.html)

Story of an Hour (http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/kchopin/bl-kchop-story.htm)

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (http://www.literaturepage.com/read/bierce-owl-creek-bridge-1.html)